Primary Madness

Here’s How Much Chris Christie Hates Marco Rubio

After a bruising debate in which Marco Rubio schooled Donald Trump, the reality T.V. wizard swiftly stole back the news cycle by announcing Friday that he had won the endorsement of New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

In a press conference that Trump hyped as a “big announcement,” Christie said he was proud to endorse a fellow straight-talker who had the power to beat Hillary Clinton in a general election, and planned to campaign with Trump until Election Day. “Donald Trump is someone who keeps his word, and America will keep its word again,” he said, later describing Trump as a “good friend” of his family.

Christie, who ended his campaign for president after he finished sixth in the New Hampshire primary, went on to blast Ted Cruz and Rubio as “junior senators” who could not understand the actual needs of the American people, going after Rubio specifically for being a D.C. insider and a neophyte. His statements recalled a devastating debate moment with the Florida senator in New Hampshire, where he slammed Rubio for repeating the same talking point, leaving him spinning. With his endorsement Friday, Christie twisted the knife one final time.

“The fact is, desperate people do desperate things,” he said of Rubio, describing his tactics as “flailing punches in the last days of a losing campaign.”

Trump said he was extremely pleased to receive Christie’s endorsement. “This was an endorsement that really meant a lot,” he said. “Chris is an outstanding man with an outstanding family, and this is the one endorsement that I’m really happy to get.”

The union of Christie and Trump makes sense, in a way. The New Jersey native and the Manhattan billionaire both share an inclination towards chest-thumping, a dislike of Rubio, who Trump derisively described as a “nervous Nellie” and “a mess,” and a willingness to get over old grudges for the sake of mutually beneficial relationships. “There was a time when I was running against him and he was running against me . . . but that time is over,” Christie acknowledged. “As a good loyal American, who is the best person to ever stop Hillary Clinton from getting inside the White House? This is the man.”

Update (4:55 P.M.): Hours after Christie's announcement, Maine governor Paul LePage, most recently known for a statement implying that African-American heroin dealers were impregnating the state's “young white girls,” became the second Republican governor to endorse Trump.

In Iowa last January, Trump regales voters with a humanizing personal anecdote about how he once bit his right index finger after mistaking it for a half-eaten French fry.

Photo: By Jerry Mennenga/ZUMA Press/Corbis.

A wax figure of “Duke” Wayne looks on in disgust as Trump strains to reach his fingers all the way around daughter Aissa Wayne’s frankly rather petite shoulder. (Fun fact: you could load the barrel of Wayne’s pistol with 14 of Trump’s pinkies.)

Photo: By Tannen Maury/EPA/Corbis.

As Trump talks straight through a lunch-hour town hall in February, hungry New Hampshire voters appear mesmerized by the five chicken-tender-like appendages radiating from his sausage-patty-size palm.

Photo: From The Washington Post/Getty Images.

At this 2005 gala, Trump, thinking quickly, uses both hands to keep wife Melania from getting a good look at the size of a single Puff Daddy hand.

Photo: By Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images.

Trump’s delicate right hand is nearly crushed by his nine-year-old daughter Ivanka’s huge, burly mitt at a 1991 event.

In Iowa last January, Trump regales voters with a humanizing personal anecdote about how he once bit his right index finger after mistaking it for a half-eaten French fry.

By Jerry Mennenga/ZUMA Press/Corbis.

A wax figure of “Duke” Wayne looks on in disgust as Trump strains to reach his fingers all the way around daughter Aissa Wayne’s frankly rather petite shoulder. (Fun fact: you could load the barrel of Wayne’s pistol with 14 of Trump’s pinkies.)

By Tannen Maury/EPA/Corbis.

As Trump talks straight through a lunch-hour town hall in February, hungry New Hampshire voters appear mesmerized by the five chicken-tender-like appendages radiating from his sausage-patty-size palm.

From The Washington Post/Getty Images.

Greeting voters in Iowa City, Trump surreptitiously compares his hand to a baby’s, a smile of satisfaction and relief slowly spreading across his face.

From Bloomberg/Getty Images.

At the 1990 grand opening of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, wee hands try to summon a genie from a giant lamp. “It’s the motion,” Trump gamely jokes.

An interesting optical illusion: Trump’s left hand is actually in the foreground of the picture!

By Chris Cassidy/Getty Images.

More ugly politics in South Carolina: Trump is forced to refute rumors, traced back to the Cruz campaign, that his fingers aren’t long enough for Christian prayer.

By Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/Getty Images.

Trump pretends to enjoy a pork chop on a stick at the 2015 Iowa State Fair, probably the one place on Earth where people won’t mistake a pork chop on a stick for Trump’s third hand.

By Win McNamee/Getty Images.

In costume with actress Megan Mullally at the 2005 Emmys, Trump wows an audience of hardened entertainment professionals by wrapping his fingers nearly all the way around a pitchfork.

By Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic/Getty Images.

Some pundits have attributed candidate Trump’s hawkishness to the fact that, even though his fingers have as many joints as a normal man’s, they remain at least an inch short of being able to form a proper peace sign.

From The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

Nothing much to say about the fingers in this picture; just curious why Trump’s “anus mouth” face hasn’t also become a thing.

From CNBC/Getty Images.

To this day, clubhouse attendants maintain that Trump had to be outfitted with a Babe Ruth Jr. Youth League glove for this 1991 appearance at Yankee Stadium.

From the Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.

At this 2005 gala, Trump, thinking quickly, uses both hands to keep wife Melania from getting a good look at the size of a single Puff Daddy hand.

By Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images.

Trump’s delicate right hand is nearly crushed by his nine-year-old daughter Ivanka’s huge, burly mitt at a 1991 event.